Goa government does a U-turn on tiger presence in State

The answer to whether tigers “reside” in Goa depends on who is asking the question. The Goa Government, earlier this year, argued before a Supreme Court-appointed committee that there was “…no permanent presence of tigers” in the State.

However, in a separate matter concerning a dispute involving Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra over the sharing of water from the Mahadayi river in Goa, it stated the opposite.

“…The State of Goa states that there is evidence to show that tigers in Goa are not merely transient animals, but are a resident population, and the forests around Chorla, Mann and Kankumbi comprise a contiguous tiger landscape corridor to the Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka to its south-east and the Anshi Dandeli Tiger Reserve to its south that has around 35 tigers.” The latter appears in a 2018 report of the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal. “Thus, were the flow of Mahadayi river to be impeded,” Goa argued,” it would impact the prey base as well as tiger ecosystem”.

Sanctuary proposal

The issue of tiger presence (or absence) in Goa has come to the fore following the Goa Government challenging a July 2023 order of the Bombay High Court that directed the State to declare the Mhadei sanctuary and other connected regions — as recommended by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA, the nodal Central body tasked with overseeing tiger conservation) — a ‘tiger reserve’ within three months. The Goa Government filed a special leave petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court challenging this order.

The Goa government’s core arguments in the SLP are that, as per the NTCA guidelines, an area of 800-1,000 sq. kms would have to be declared as an inviolate space for a tiger reserve. The area already under protection in the State, in the form of parks and sanctuaries, added up to 745 sq. km. “Therefore, to declare an area larger than the already protected area as an inviolate space would be an aberration.”

Secondly, the area that would have to be declared a tiger reserve had a “huge population” of about 1,00,000 individuals spread across several villages. Given the paucity of alternative areas to settle them and the ‘unwillingness’ of this resident population, the move could translate to social unrest. 

In terms of tiger presence, it argued that only three tigers were found through ‘camera trapping’ during the NTCA’s tiger estimation survey of 2018. There was “no evidence” that these tigers were “residents” of the area; there were no cubs or young animals either.

“The protected area is only a corridor whereby the tigers transit from Maharashtra to Karnataka or vice versa, and the area of Mhadei is only a route, which is used by tigers to transit,” the State argued in its petition. “Such ‘transitory presence’ of tigers in Mhadei was due to very few deer (as prey), and thus, declaring Mhadei sanctuary as a reserve… would not serve any significant purpose,” it said.

SC seeks report

The Supreme Court, this September, directed a Central Empowered Committee of the Union Environment Ministry to hear all the “stakeholders” in the matter and submit a report in “six weeks.” The Committee has reportedly sought an extension to file this.

The case traces back to 2011, when the Centre and the NTCA made multiple requests to the State of Goa to notify Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary (WLS) and certain other adjacent areas as a tiger reserve. But this did not happen. In January 2021, four tigers were found poisoned following which the Goa Foundation, a non-profit, filed a petition for the region to be declared a tiger reserve. Doing so puts the onus on the State to improve protection measures for conservation of animals.

On September 8, 2025, after counsel for the Goa Foundation informed the top court that some proposals for resorts were being approved in the proposed tiger reserve, the court stayed all such activity till final order and judgment. 

According to the 2022 tiger estimation report by the NTCA — the latest of its kind — tiger populations in Goa were “consistently low” since 2014 (five in 2014, three in 2018), but Mhadei WLS held “significant potential” for the range expansion of tigers in Goa as well as in the northern Western Ghats landscape.